Have a Good Scare
by jamblute
Summary: Demyx is still learning the ropes, and the next bit of his training on a new world, Halloween Town, has been trusted to Xigbar. Antics are inevitable. (Cover is official art.)


"Weeeird!" Demyx squeaked, twisting around and bending his arms to look at the fins sprouting from his limbs. Thin fog sat close to the ground in the graveyard and Jack o' lanterns were skewered on wrought iron fence posts over the headstones. A grinning scarecrow pointed further into the world where Xigbar was assigned with Demyx to scope the place out. This was his first big mission without Vexen nagging him— or instructing, he called it. Not that it meant Xigbar was about to give blondie a break.

"Hey, 's no big deal." Xigbar shrugged it off. "What, this your first transformation?" He nodded to Demyx, a smirk on his face. He could feel stitches pulling on his skin, but it didn't hurt a bit. So he was some kind of Frankenstein's monster and Demyx was a creature from a lagoon. If nothing else, at least the sneaky little slacker would get a chance to be scary for once in his life.

"Uhh… Yes?" Demyx frowned in confusion, but that got him standing still for a change. Sure, Xigbar recruited the kid for the cause, but even he had his doubts sometimes that he was really cut out to wear the cloak. Not that it mattered much in the grand scheme of things, anyway. And hey, Xigbar liked having someone fun around for once. The others were so uptight all the time, and when he ran out of munny to lose to Luxord (and steal back later), Demyx was always right there and ready to prank and be pranked.

"Ha! What're you asking me for?" He shook his head, chuckling. "Don't you know for sure?"

"Well, yeah, it's just, couldn't we go a place that's less…" He tugged at the tattered, faded shirt hanging loosely over his scaled skin, eyeing the area now instead of dwelling on his new form.

"Less what?" Xigbar knew the answer, but he had to lead the kid on. Where's the fun in not doing that? For a guy told all the time that he didn't have a heart, Demyx sure gave the best reactions to his feelings. If people took him more seriously, that might've been a problem. Lucky for the both of them that he did barely enough to not be turned into a Dusk, then.

"Ah, y'know, it's kinda…" Demyx dragged it out, leaning to look past Xigbar into the dark, shadowy town through the iron gate. "Kinda scary here."

"Scary? As if!" Xigbar turned around, waving over his shoulder as he went ahead toward the town. "You don't even exist, remember? Not like you can die again, Dem. What's to be scared of, huh?"

Demyx groaned, shuffling along in awkward steps. He was never a graceful guy, but from the sounds of his steps, the transformation really screwed up his stride with all those fins made for swimming, not walking. "Fiiiine. Just a quick look, yeah? Then we run back and RTC?"

"Nah, we gotta get the whole job done right." Not his favorite thing to do either, but what can you do? "Check your little card— says we gotta team up, infiltrate the world, and get intel. Maybe you like Saïx yelling at you all the time, but I didn't sign up for that."

"Okay, okay," he begrudgingly agreed, trotting to catch up with Xigbar. Demyx was even quiet for almost a full thirty seconds when he found his nasally voice again. "Do you, uhh… D'ya hear that?"

Xigbar stopped, focusing on their surroundings when he heard a tune in the air. "Singing?" Of course he noticed the music before Xigbar did.

"It's our town, everybody scream," shrill voices sang, but even Xigbar was running into trouble placing exactly where the singers were. "In this town of Halloween!"

Whisps of white blurred around them and Demyx let out a shriek, bubbles forming and dissolving as he realized the ghosts already took off again. What, was Xigbar s'posed to pretend he didn't see that? Turn a blind eye? The bad joke to himself just made him laugh harder.

"C'mon, man," Demyx whined, rubbing his arm self-consciously. He really was a terrible swamp monster. "You've been laughing like that forever…"

"Exaggeration, much?" It'd been, what, maybe a few seconds. Not Xigbar's fault he was self-conscious about being a scaredy-cat. "'Sides, you're in for a lot worse than that. You hear them over your squealing?"

"H-hey, it's not a squeal, it's— Enngh, never mind." Dem caught sight of his smirk and dropped it then and there. He knew a losing battle when he saw one, even if he always just ran away from 'em. "They sang about a town of Halloween, so that's gotta be here. I mean, just look at the place. Spooky."

"Oh, so you do listen?"

"Huh?" He tried playing innocent, scratching his cheek absently and avoiding all eye contact. As if that was gonna make him more believable. "Umm. Sometimes."

"Uh-huh, sure," Xigbar dismissed with a sneer. He could taunt Demyx about that all he wanted on this mission, but they did actually have work to do before the day was out and Saïx had a fit. Xigbar outranked him and all, but he was easier to deal with once he had what he wanted. "Alright, time to dig up some intel. Fear's a good emotion to keep folks in check, so I betcha Lord Xemnas will love hearin' about this."

"Yeah, probably," Demyx agreed half-heartedly, kicking a pebble along the graveyard pathway. "He already scares me a lot, an'I… Xiggy?" When the musician kid wasn't looking, Xigbar used his powers to teleport himself behind him. No harm in a little prank, right? 'Course not. "Haha, reeaally funny, you… Ya got me." Man, that nervousness was too real. The little water spout actually liked him, imagine that! He wasn't gonna last long in the ranks at that rate.

Xigbar teleported himself behind Demyx this time and whispered, "Gotcha."

"Eek!" Demyx elbowed him in the stomach, hard, and Xigbar coughed out a laugh.

"Look at you! Got some fight in you after all, just gotta scare it outta you first."

"Wha? Me?" Demyx gestured to himself, panic in his amphibious eyes. This world really went all out on the transformation bit, not that it did a damn thing for the kid. "No, no, no, I just… It was instinct! C'mon, can't we just look around and, I dunno, not scare me?"

"Ha! Not a chance. I'm just blending in, Dem," he teased, empty friendliness and sarcasm giving his words an edge. "You really oughta do the same or they'll find out you're chicken."

Demyx's brow furrowed again and he stuck his tongue out, touching the end of it. "Ennnh, I bi' my tongue!"

"Not even listening to me, what're we gonna do with you?" He clapped Demyx on the back once, walking ahead. "I'll show you how it's done."

"Really?!" Demyx brightened from his voice to his eyes, a light chuckle not far behind. So easily pleased, so easily scared. He had a heart, alright. Just a matter of time before he pieced that little fact together, but that was a problem for the future. As if he'd even act on it— this was Demyx, the king of lazing around in closets, the Grey Room, and anywhere he thought he'd get away with it. Even if he figured out part of their scam, it's not like he was gonna do anything about it. "Hey, thanks, Xiggy!"

"It's my job, Dem," Xigbar reminded him drily. "Just be glad they sent me along to help you out and not cranky, old Vexen."


End file.
